‘Hopefully, next season we can be there’

Pep Guardiola said being forced to watch the latter stages of the Champions League from his sofa instead of the touchline has provided him the motivation to lead his Manchester City side to qualify for the competition next season. Guardiola’s team face Everton today as they aim to book a UCL spot by finishing in the top-five.

“It’s a motivation,” Guardiola said of watching the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite competition. “Hopefully next season we can be there with the big clubs in Europe and challenge them better than what we have this season,” he added.

Guardiola’s men are fifth with six games to go, but only one point ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa. Yet Guardiola conceded it could have been much worse for his side after a drastic decline in their standards this season.

“People say we are fifth now but could be 11, 12, 13 or 14. I have no doubts. OK, we’ve not been good, but it’s in our hands [to change it],” the Spanish coach said.
Erling Haaland, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Ederson remain sidelined for City’s trip to Everton on Saturday. But they could welcome back Manuel Akanji for the first time in two months, while Phil Foden has recovered from a knock that led him to miss last weekend’s 5-2 win over Crystal Palace.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever